Detention
by Selke
Summary: Harry and Draco discover they have more in common than they thought when they're stuck in detention together. Challenge response.


Disclaimer:  The characters represented in this story are the property of J.K. Rowling, Scholastic, Warner Bros., etc.  I'm not making any money from this.  It's for fun.

A/N: This is done for a challenge, made by Silvryn.  I happen to be friends with her, so when she issued it, I just had to take it up.  Even if she set the challenge months ago.  So I'm a procrastinator.

This is a short one shot, but it turned out okay. : )  And no worries.  I'm still working on 'Mourning.'  I just had this plot bunny that I had to get out.

-

Harry Potter couldn't stop the laughter from bubbling up in his throat at the sight in front of him.  His arch-rival, Draco Malfoy, covered from head to toe in thick, bright purple, foaming goo.  With every curse pouring from the blonde boy's mouth, Harry's laughter got louder and louder, until it was obvious that he was laughing behind his desk.

"Mr. Malfoy, _what happened here_?"  Professor Snape glowered down at him.  Apparently his favor of the Slytherin house over all others didn't include having one of his prize pupil's blowing purple potion all over the classroom.  

"Crabbe and Goyle."  Malfoy wiped some of the foam from his face, splashing it to the ground with a distasteful grunt.  "They added the wrong ingredients.  It appears that they didn't know the difference between Nile monitor scales and those of Amazonian anacondas."

"It's a miracle you haven't blown up this room and all in it, Mr. Malfoy."  Snape hissed.  "Ten points from Slytherin and detention.  Clean this mess up _now."_

"But, sir-!"  Draco stammered, his normally cool demeanor long since gone out the window.  "It wasn't my fault!"

"Yes, well, you should have been watching them.  That is why there are groups in this class."  Snape snapped, halfway back to his desk.  He stopped at Harry's desk, an evil glint in his eye.  "And as for your sniggering at Mr. Malfoy's accident, you _also_ get a detention."

"For laughing?!  The entire bloody class was laughing!"  Harry argued, his voice rising in pitch.

"_And_ you get to help Draco clean up the mess.  Next time I suggest not talking back to a professor, Mr. Potter."

Grumbling curses under his breath, Harry walked over to Draco's desk, kneeling down to pick up a shattered ladle.  

"Both of you are to report to this room for detention tonight at eight o'clock.  Is that understood?"  Professor Snape asked, sitting behind his desk, papers in hand.

"Yes, sir."  Harry and Draco said in unison, glaring at each other.

Harry entered the potions classroom at five minutes to eight, finding Draco already sitting at his desk, a book in hand.  Draco turned towards the noise of Harry's entrance, a sneer on his face.

"Let's just get this over with."  Harry mumbled, sitting at the desk in front of Malfoy.  They sat quietly for a few moments, until Snape entered the room, banging the door behind him.

"Considering that I have better things to do tonight than baby-sit you two, your detention shall be relatively simple."  Snape leaned against his desk, staring at the two boys.  With a flick of his wand, every cupboard in the room opened, revealing hundreds of dusty glass jars, in varying conditions.  "You are to _thoroughly dust the cupboards and the bottles inside, and put them in alphabetical order.  You'd best get started.  It may take you awhile.  _

"If you need me, I'll be in my office."  Snape turned on his heal and walked into a room off the side of the class, closing the door slightly behind him.  Draco turned to Harry.

"We might as well work together.  We won't be able to do it magically.  Uncle Se-  Professor Snape has the room warded against spells like that.  He'd know we were 'cheating' in a moment."  Draco stated, standing up.  

"Fine."  Harry said, also standing up.  He walked over to the shelf nearest the door Snape had entered.  "The sooner we're done, the better."

"Indeed."

The two of them worked in silence for twenty minutes, dusting each bottle and placing them in piles according to the alphabet.  The quiet was shattered as Harry dropped a jar, sending glass shards across the counter and floor.

"Oh, bloody hell!"  Harry bent down to the jar.  He swept up the remains of the jar and placed them in the trash.  Draco sniggered quietly.  "Oh, stuff it, Malfoy.  I've got better things to do than spend my evening with an evil git like you."

"Oh, please.  I'm not evil, I'm just morally challenged."  Draco waved his hand dismissively, as if blowing the words away.  

"And this coming from a Death Eater in training?  Oddly enough, that's not too comforting."

"Come on…"  Draco rolled his eyes.  "If I was going to kill you, I'd have done it already.  Besides, I've got no plans on joining that lot."

Harry raised a cynical eyebrow at Draco.

"My family's not as demented as all that, Potter.  My father wouldn't make me do something that I didn't want to do."  Draco admitted, wiping a bead of sweat from his brow.  "I don't need to become a Death Eater just to prove myself in my family.  Time's are changing.

"And my father doesn't want me swept up in all of that.  The only reason that he's still there is that he can't get out.  It's like the mob."

Harry couldn't help but snigger lowly at the comparison.  Draco glared at him sharply.  "Sorry.  I just got the image of your father dressed up like a gangster, in 'The Godfather' or something."

This time Draco laughed.  "Yeah, that could be kind of disturbing."

"Yeah, speaking of disturbing, what _is_ this?"  Harry held up a jar containing tiny pink spores floating in an amber liquid.  

"I think that's a variant of _rauwolfia serpentina.  It's a base for a drug, Reserpine.  It was used centuries ago in India as a remedy for insanity and insomnia."  Draco stated, matter-of-factly._

"Oh."  Harry felt his cheeks warm a bit.  "How'd you know all of that?"

"Growing up around Snape."  Harry cocked his head to the side, a curious look on his face.  Draco decided to indulge him.  "He's my godfather."

"Ah…  Explains why you've always gotten better marks in potions than I have.  Well, that and you're Slytherin."  
  


"Hey, we earn our favoritism."  Draco said, his smile disappearing.  "The people in my house work their arses off to get where they do.  Yeah, we have connections and all of that, but we've got to earn them."

"Sorry.  I didn't mean to offend you."  Harry picked up another jar and began dusting with a cloth.

"It's alright.  Everybody in this bloody school thinks that, so it's just easier to let them think it."  Draco took the jar that Harry had picked up and dusted and set it down in a stack of 'B's.  "I think there's only one other person in this school knows what Slytherins really do go through…"

"Who?"

"Granger."

"Hermione?!"  In his shock, Harry nearly dropped another jar.  "When did you talk to her?"

"Oh, I believe it was sometime after sex.  Who can remember with the many times that we had mad, mad sex on that very desk over there?"  Draco laughed loudly at the red tinge that covered Harry's face.

"Probably while you were drunk."  Harry muttered, a slightly angry tinge to his voice.

"I was kidding, Potter."  Draco set another jar onto the counter.  "She saw me at the library one night, much later than usual.  She needed the book that I was using, so we got to talking.  She's not that really that bad…"

"Yeah, neither are you."

"You repeat that to anybody, I'll skin you alive and leave your head on the front gate, Potter."  Draco laughed, looking down at the piles of jars in front of them.  "Well, how about that?  We're done."

"Wow."  Harry said simply, looking at the jars in amazement.  "This really wasn't too bad of a detention."

"No, it wasn't."  Draco said, mild surprise in his voice.  "You can go now, Potter.  I'll go tell Severus that we're finished."

"Cool, thanks."  Harry dusted his hands off on his robes.  "Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Malfoy…  Draco."

"See you tomorrow, Harry."

-----

This is the challenge, as set by Silvryn:

CHALLENGE FIC:   
  
H/D friendship piece   
  
must have the following lines of dialogue:   
  
"I'm not evil, I'm just morally challenged."   
"speaking of ________"   
"sometime after sex"   
"while you were drunk"   
  
any length acceptable


End file.
